Panel-back armchair
Category
Furniture
Date
circa 1670
Materials
Carved, turned and joined oak, inlay of stained timber, including sycamore
Measurements
112 x 62 cm
Place of origin
Yorkshire
Order this imageCollection
Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire
NT 1128060
Summary
An oak and inlaid double panel-back armchair, English, probably South-West Yorkshire, circa 1670. The rails and uprights inlaid with chequer inlay in stained sycamore, the cresting rail centred by a flower between 'S'-scrolls and above a pair of foliate scroll ears, the upper panel carved with foliate, the larger lower panel centred by a lozenge between foliate whorls. The slender arms downswept and on ring-turned arm supports, the seat with moulded edge and encircling the arms. Raised on ring-turned columnar front legs and with peripheral stretcher. -- Much of the 16th and 17th century oak at Hardwick Hall, the indigenous pieces aside, was probably purchased by the 6th Duke in the 19th century to enhance the Elizabethan feel of the property, much as his contemporary, Charles Winn of Nostell Priory, is known to have done (Westgarth, Raikes). The 6th Duke is recorded, for instance, as having bought 'oak Arm chairs' in 1846.
Provenance
By descent until, following the death of Edward William Spencer Cavendish, 10th Duke of Devonshire (1895 - 1950), Hardwick Hall and its contents were accepted by HM Treasury in part payment of death duties and transferred to the National Trust, in 1959.
References
Westgarth 2009, M. Westgarth, 'A Biographical Register of Nineteenth Century Antique and Curiosity Dealers', Regional Furniture XXIII (2009), 1 - 205 Raikes, 2003: S.Raikes. ““A cultivated eye for the antique”: Charles Winn and the enrichment of Nostell Priory in the nineteenth century.” Apollo 157.494 (2003): pp.3-8.